


from the truth

by afrocurl



Series: distractions [2]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Lack of Communication, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-19 03:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1454110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/pseuds/afrocurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erika's new life - her post Shaw life - was not quite as she imagined, and she always had found it hard to communication properly on big issues.</p>
<p>One issued loomed on the horizon, unspoken until it can't be avoided anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	from the truth

**Author's Note:**

> Another story for my Trope Bingo card. This one for "poor communication skills".

With Shaw gone, Erika's life changed yet again. She found that in the wake of her and Charles’ revelation to everyone on the Cuban beach that she was even freer than she had been when she forced the coin through Shaw’s mind.

She had killed the man who killed her parents. And she could be with the love of her life without fear of being judged for marrying him.

As only they could do, safely brought back to the mansion by Shaw’s team, she and Charles celebrated their victory with drink and sex and a passion that spoke of beginnings not endings.

-

Charles’ plans were different - remarkably so - with their earlier work done. He had plans to start a school for mutants so that the horrors of her life wouldn’t happen to anyone else. She liked the idea of having a home - a family; a community - to call her own and wrapped herself in Charles’ frenzy as he planned for the renovations to the mansion and her life after that.

-

Each night they still slept together - fucked each other; some nights slow, some nights so fast she craved more - and woke to the pale light of a new life and Erika liked how well it agreed with her. She had had no other plans after Shaw’s death - if she had survived it - but Charles, absent-minded as always, needed a strong hand to help organize the upcoming school.

It was far easier to focus on the day-to-day requirements - rooms that needed converting, sections that needed changing, curricula to plan - than to notice that she felt more sluggish in the mornings as the days wore on, and that her breakfasts would fail to stay in her stomach for days on end.

She said nothing because Charles’ mind was so quick to focus on their new plans. It was easier to avoid the cold fact that she was carrying Charles’ child than to face it head on and speak the words aloud.

-

Her steps out of their en suite were met with Charles’ voice.

“Dear, you’ve been in the bathroom every morning when I wake up this week. Is everything okay?” Charles asked on about the fifteenth day where she felt the morning sickness even before she ate.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. I probably shouldn’t indulge in Sean’s desserts is all.”

The lie tasted like ashes on her tongue, but she felt that there were too many other issues to address to saddle Charles with her condition right now. Their plans for a school could not afford her weakness.

She walked back to her dressing table and started to settle her hair into something more appropriate for her day, leaving Charles to his own ablutions and silently dropping the subject yet again.

-

Charles’ mental presence had hovered around her after his question that morning, but he stayed out of her head. She appreciated the concern, and went about with her routine for the day - overseeing the conversion of a few rooms in the West Wing from formal household spaces (a parlor or two and a conservatory) into classrooms.

_You have plenty of work to do yourself. I’m fine. Please let me work so you can do yours._

It was snippy, but her nerves were frayed as she worked out how best to add the necessary support beams as she divided the three spaces into five classrooms-to-be.

_Will you tell me about it over dinner?_ was Charles’ question and she couldn’t avoid the conversation any longer, it seemed.

_Of course. Can we slip out into town? I don’t want the rest of the staff to know just yet._

She had a mental nod for his answer and so she went back to working out the scale of each new room with the mental from the old conservatory’s pipes.

-

In an effort to put on her best face with the news she had, Erika chose to dress more formally for dinner than she would under normal circumstances. She chose her maroon dress and paired it with her purple heels and did her hair in a chignon that she only wore on truly special occasions.

Charles would notice, and that was how she wanted it now. She had mentally tracked her cycle and figured she was close to the end of the first trimester. Just in time for her to see a doctor and confirm what she already knew.

“Why don’t _you_ look lovely?” Charles said when he walked in to see that she was already ready to go.

“You did say we could go into town. I figured I’d look the part of the socialite wife.”

“I did, but now I’ll have to match your beauty with my own feeble attempts.”

She walked over to Charles and tsked before she whispered, “You’ll put your mind to good use then.”

-

With her martini in hand, Erika’s nerves slowed down, her heartbeat returning to its normal rhythm after the hustle to make their reservation. She choked, slightly, on the faint burn of the gin, unusual, but she put it down and tried to cover the faux pas with her napkin.

“You said you had something to say that you wanted to do without the staff,” Charles started, as he took small sips of his own neat scotch.

“I did. Because I know you’ve been mindful of how ill I’ve been in the mornings, I felt it best to tell you this privately. I’ve missed two months in a row and I cannot think of anything else but this: I’m with child.”

Charles reached for his drink and drained it quickly as the words hung in the air like snow waiting to fall after being blown loose.

“You’ve been sick because of that?” His voice was soft, but disbelieving.

“I think so. We hadn’t discussed doctors when we arrived so I have no concrete evidence, but it should be something we do together? You’re happy for us?” She tried not to hide the hurt if he said no. She had had time to come to terms with what was happening - done when Charles’ mind was occupied with his own tasks - and she knew that this was what she was meant to do now.

She was meant to lead a school at Charles’ side and protect mutants. Possibly including their child.

“Overjoyed, Erika. Overjoyed. I was just caught off guard.”

“It seems we both are - in different ways. But you’re not mad I didn’t say something sooner?”

Charles shook his head. “Never. I know this isn’t now how you saw your life, but it is wonderful news.”

“My life changed as soon as Shaw died. This life is not my own, but ours. Even more now.” She reached across the table and intertwined her fingers into Charles’. He idly played with her wedding ring and sent pulses of pride and love and complete adoration to her for what they had done.

What they would do.

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by **ninemoons42** , but any remaining errors are my own.


End file.
